The Packers also placed offensive tackle Bryan Bulaga (knee) and running back DuJuan Harris (knee) on season-ending injured reserve. Two other rookies — receiver Kevin Dorsey (toe) and linebacker Jarvis Reed (ankle) — were waived injured as a likely precursor to working out injury settlements.

Players who are placed on the physically unable to perform list cannot practice with the team through its first six regular-season games, which for the Packers would be after an Oct. 20 date with Cleveland. Following that, PUP players have a five-week window to return to practice and then an additional three weeks to determine if they’re able to rejoin the 53-man roster.

It’s the same song and dance Sherrod went through last season, but the organization held out hope the 24-year-old might be able to return in time for the offseason program or a portion of training camp after undergoing a second surgery earlier this year.

However, the 6-foot-6, 321-pound tackle has yet to step foot on the field in a competitive capacity since breaking the leg in two places in a game against Kansas City on Dec. 18, 2011. He spent the offseason in Green Bay, but hasn’t advanced past individual rehab workouts with team trainers.

“I’m feeling pretty good, just working hard each and every day to do the things I need to do to get back out there,” Sherrod said earlier this week when asked about his status. “Just really working hard and pushing myself. I know the preseason is winding down, but I’m doing everything I can.”

It’s not a given any of the PUP candidates will return this season with Tretter working his way back from the broken ankle he suffered on the first day of organized team activities and Richardson yet to be cleared following neck fusion surgery in January. Sherrod was non-committal when asked if he’s confident he’ll play this season.

Dorsey, a seventh-round rookie receiver out of Maryland, missed the entire offseason program with injury before sustaining a hamstring injury on the second day of camp. He returned Aug. 13 before developing a toe injury that held him out of practice this week.

Reed, 23, signed with the Packers in May after attending the team’s rookie orientation on tryout.

Road to recovery

While the chances of Tramon Williams suiting up in Thursday’s preseason finale against Kansas City appear minute, the 30-year-old cornerback’s return to practice couldn’t have come with better timing.

Williams practiced in pads for the first time on Tuesday after missing nearly a month because of a bone bruise he suffered July 26 during the second day of camp and appeared to check out fine in hopes of being ready for the team’s regular-season opener against San Francisco on Sept. 8.

The former Pro Bowler was limited to positional work and scout team reps in his first practice back in shells on Monday before testing well enough to advance to padded practice Tuesday.

“I think everybody wants to know where the knee is and with the workload can it withstand one, two, three days and not swell up on him, just to know where it is,” cornerbacks coach Joe Whitt Jr. said. “Mentally, I know he’s sharp. He’s in my meetings, he’s taking tests. You want him to see routes, so he can get used to seeing them and doing those things again, but the main thing is the knee and will it be able to withstand the pressure of a game? That’s what we’re trying to see with that.”

Six pack

Second-year linebacker Terrell Manning said he had a nightmare Tuesday night about arriving to Lambeau Field for practice only to find his locker had been cleared out after being a casualty of the team’s roster cuts.

Manning can sleep easy for now, but the Packers will have to make a decision soon on whether they’ll keep all six of the inside linebackers the team brought to camp.

Behind starters A.J. Hawk and Brad Jones, all four reserves — Manning, Robert Francois, Jamari Lattimore and rookie Sam Barrington — have worked their way onto first-team units on special teams and shown potential worth developing in camp.

“I would love to keep all of them. That decision is not mine,” inside linebackers coach Winston Moss said. “Each one has made a case for themselves. A.J. and Brad, they’re the incumbents. Robert and Lattimore, their value is on special teams. Sam and Terrell have given themselves the ability to show their potential so that they’re worth taking a look at.”

Extra points

• Former Packers quarterback Graham Harrell and kicker Giorgio Tavecchio cleared waivers Tuesday while the New England Patriots claimed defensive lineman Gilbert Pena, who was released by the Packers on Saturday.

Harrell, 28, spent the past three years on the Packers’ roster before losing out on the backup position to recently signed veteran Vince Young.

“Graham’s been a good guy. He was one of those older fellas that we had to say good-bye to,” general manager Ted Thompson said. “We just felt like it was time to move on there.”

• The Packers made only one official cut Tuesday, kicker Zach Ramirez, but that doesn’t make the process any easier for Thompson, who said cutting the roster is the worst part of his job.

“Often times, most of the time, I get physically sick, like I get this huge cold or something,” Thompson said.

“Sometimes from the public standpoint, it’s a little too much fantasy football. This is a hard thing to do is to come in and compete against grown men and make a roster in the NFL, so sometimes there’s almost a flippant way of reporting that ‘so and so got axed’ or something like that. I think that’s a little harsh. Maybe I’m a little sensitive to it because once upon a time I got axed, but it’s hard.”

• Quarterback Aaron Rodgers didn’t take any snaps with a unit other than the scout team Tuesday, drawing into question if he’ll play at all against the Chiefs. McCarthy said a decision will be made this morning.

• McCarthy cut off a period of practice due to a heat index that rose to 98 degrees with the team preparing for 100-degree weather in Kansas City.